Pope Francis and the Middle East Conflict

++The United States has spent $1.6 trillion--yup,trillion--on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. President Obama announced that this is the last month of American combat operations in Afghanistan.

++Now what did anyone get out of this--except militarized police in America?

++Pope Francis yesterday gave a homily about the world's wars ,the refugee problems and ISIS' vicious repression against the region's minorities. He asked the world to be hospitable to the refugees--who with the displaced--represent even more than the same population produced by WWII.

++What awe are seeing in the Middle East is the eradication of the region's ethnic and religious diversity. The nicest photos from yesterday were those of Christians worshipping in Baghdad. I remember when members of that congregation were slaughtered in 2011 by the Mahdi Army, while attending a worship ceremony. 

++Pope Francis has been the most vocal in speaking out for the Christians in the region, while our own churches have remained silent. I spoke to a conservative friend of mine about why American Christians don't defend the oldest branches of their religion. The answer I got was that the Syrian Churches who date back to Paul favor Assad. I said you can still defend them whatever their political inclinations. But no, they are considered "political enemies".

++I find looking at the extermination of these groups from a political point of view as bizarre and wrong-headed. What we are seeing is the region stripped of its remaining pluralism and diversity. People who historically belong there being uprooted. 

++We will hear alot in the next few months about the war to fight ISIS, but nothing about doing the humanitarian work that would actually harm them the most. Just a fraction of the $1.6 trillion would amount to a Marshall Plan-type humanitarian effort that would deal with the millions of refugees and displaced people, the children who have been wounded and maimed,and the hundreds of thousands of civilians who also have been wounded. 

++You simply can not begin to deal with the Middle East now without making humanitarian issues the central point of discussion. 

++We will debate this strategy or that strategy . But we won't reflect on what that $1.6 trillion got us in the first place. And that's the pity.